It’s been exactly 10 days since Clayton Kershaw – the unofficial captain of the Dodgers – made his now-famous “panic” speech in which he more or less called out his teammates to begin playing with a greater sense of urgency.

“I hope we’re panicking a little bit,” Kershaw told reporters after his team suffered their second consecutive series sweep and fifth consecutive loss back on August 23. “I think panic’s a good thing to a certain extent. It’s August whatever-it-is, and we’ve got five weeks or whatever it is, too. There needs to be a sense of urgency. Maybe that’s better to say it than panic, but I feel like we’ve got to start playing like that.”

Since that day the Dodgers have won every game in which the got a hit – eight if them to be exact. They suffered their only loss during that run when they were no-hit by Cubs right-hander Jake Arrieta on August 30.

On Wednesday night Kershaw offered another warning to his teammates. Although this one came after Kershaw and Dodgers completed a three-game series sweep of their most hated rival Giants and, as noted, after winning eight of their last nine games, it was nonetheless as important as Kershaw’s “panic” speech and will undoubtedly get a lot of play by the media.

“We’re a good team. We’re starting to play like that day in and day out, which is huge,” Kershaw said. “We can’t relax now, playing a big series like this against the Giants like this you might have a tendency to relax and go play San Diego just because they’re a little bit behind in the standings. So we gotta really keep our foot on the gas pedal going down there and make sure we don’t have any letdowns.”

Kershaw’s quasi-warning came after pitching his best game of the season – a game in which he either tied or set several career records while downing the Giants by a score of 2-1 for the second consecutive night. The defending 2014 NL MVP and Cy Young award winner pitched his third complete game of the season allowing only one run on six hits while walking one and striking out 15, which tied his career high set during his no-hitter on June 18, 2014. He also tied and then broke his single-season strikeout record with his MLB-leading 251 strikeouts – 12 more than Chicago White Sox left-hander Chris Sale.

Kershaw struck out Giants right fielder Marlon Byrd on his 132nd pitch of the night to secure his 12th win of the season. It was the second time this season Kershaw has thrown that many pitches. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

With the three-game sweep of the Giants, which had a playoff atmosphere to it, the Dodgers extended their lead over their division rivals to a season-high 6.5 games in the NL West and are now a season-high 18 games over .500 with their 75-57 record – second best in the National League to only the St. Louis Cardinals (86-47). It also puts a tremendous amount of pressure on Bruce Bochy’s Giants with only 30 games remaining in the season. But as Kershaw cautions, the Dodgers cannot let up even slightly during the final month of the season in which they must face the Giants four more time at AT&T Park, where they haven’t won even once this season in six tries. Additionally, the Dodgers are a rather dismal 28-36 (.437) on the road this season as they embark on a 10-game road trip that takes them through San Diego, Anaheim, and Arizona before returning home on September 14.

Chase Utley’s sixth-inning solo home run, his first as a Dodger, proved to be the game-winner in Wednesday night’s 2-1 win over the Giants to complete the three-game sweep.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Although the Dodgers have their biggest lead of the season in the NL West, history has taught us that it ain’t over till it’s over. In fact, former Dodgers broadcaster Ross Porter tweeted out on Wednesday night that the 1962 Dodgers squandered a four-game lead with seven to play and lost the NL pennant to the Giants in a three-game playoff series.

Will Kershaw’s latest words of caution to his teammates have the same impact as his last ones did?

Check back here on September 14.